A BLOG BY LINDSY READ

Monday, October 21, 2013

Florence and Genoa, Italy

FLORENCE

I know what you're thinking. Florence isn't a coastal town. No, it's not. Our ship stopped in Livorno and most of the other cruisers went on excursions through our cruise line. But, Dan and I took a shuttle, a city bus and a train to Florence. It took almost 2 hours each way. We have been to Florence before, in 2007, and we had eaten the best meal of our lives there. It was a gnocchi dish with truffle sauce and we were determined to find it again. Unfortunately, we did not find THE restaurant but we found a great substitute that had a similar dish. We did some shopping and then headed back. It was a short day in Florence but I still like that town.

Mmmm... gelato

Mmmm... gelato

At the bus stop in Livorno

Carousel in Florence

Wild turtles

GENOA

Genoa was a great town for shopping. We shopped at some of our favorite stores, drank Illy coffee, and walked too much. We didn't do any research on the town but we saw a big statue of Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo) and found out that Genoa was his birthplace. While visiting the royal palace, Dan took of his shirt and got into a tub. So, that was fun!